A New Beginning
by bluerose2823
Summary: Korra and Mako aren't hitting it off as well as they'd hoped, and Korra realizes there is someone out there who really gets exactly who she is. But he's not going to forgive her that easily. Fluffy Borra, teensy minuscule Makorra. One-Shot


**AN: Hey People! I haven't written anything in years. I think if I do write stuff from now on it will only be one shots, fluffy, lemony, I don't know, but I obviously can't be trusted with a full-fledged fic. So here's a little Borra one shot.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

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"Listen, I really think I made a mistake." Korra looked at the ground as she talked, there was no looking at him, there would never be looking at him, because looking at him would mean seeing his face, his eyes, his golden eyes, and realizing what she had done, the problems she was just beginning to cause.

"Are you sure about that, I don't understand, you said… you-you said yesterday, and the day before that, and…. you said you loved me." Mako replied, not sure what to do with his hands. He wanted to shake her by the shoulders grab her face and make her look at him, but he couldn't, he couldn't touch her, because he was miserable, and touching her would make this whole thing real, it wouldn't be just a nightmare.

What could she say? Should she lie? Should she break his heart? Should she shred it, like she knew she was going to, if she told the truth.

"Yes, I've known for awhile, that I made this mistake." _"The truth will set you free"_ Tenzin had once said, and, he said, that by telling the truth, she would learn more about herself and her airbending, because air is the element of freedom and to be free, you must be free of guilt. She chose truth.

"No, no, no, no, no,no!" Mako grabbed his hair and pulled, how could this be possible, just yesterday… just yesterday she had said…

"Why did you lie?! Why did you LIE?!" He yelled turning from her, his eyes burning. She still hadn't looked up from the floor. "Why did you lie?" he whispered, his hands fell limply to his side, again not knowing where to put them.

"I… I didn't want to hurt you." She looked up at the back of his head and lifted her hand, but she didn't know what to do. She'd never had a boyfriend before, let alone having had to break up with one.

"Well you did, you did and I don't know what to do." Mako whipped around and seeing her looking at him, stared her straight in the eyes, "When did this start? When did you stop loving me?" He asked his eyes ablaze with anger and hurt, and betrayal.

"I still love you! I'll always love you!" Korra pleaded, "But, you don't always show me that you love me. You don't tell me you love me, you expect that I know. Mako, I don't love you, because it's too hard to love you, you don't make it easy because you don't show that you love me back!" Korra's eyes were watering but she stood tall, she knew she deserved someone who would show her their love, who would cherish her, who wouldn't go off and act as if she wasn't there, waiting for them to return.

"Well I am who I am Korra!" Mako threw up his hands in defeat, "I can't change for you or for anyone else. And I'm not going to. I'm sorry that you feel like I didn't love you because I did. I loved you so much." He put his hand on her shoulder, he realized that he needed someone who would be okay with his mood swings, and wouldn't criticize him when he got depressed or angry, someone who was exactly what he wanted without having to try to teach them who to be. And at that moment, Korra was not that person, "I don't know if we were ever right for each other, Korra. Maybe we were swept up back then, I think we were both starstruck." He sighed and dropped his hand, "I think we are better off being friends."

"Yeah, me too." Korra smiled wryly, "Well I guess that's it." She went to leave, but turned around quickly and gave Mako a hug, "I will always be your friend though, I promise." Mako looked down, his throat burning and his eyes filling with tears. He cleared his throat and forced a smile.

"Yeah. Me too." With that, he let go of her and walked away.

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Korra's heart pounded. _How horrible am I?_ She asked herself as she turned around, _What will he think of me? Will he hate me? They say your siblings are your first friends in life, how will he look at me once he's found out?_ She burst into a run, she couldn't live any longer without him.

All the trips to the market, all the museum visits and the paying respects at memorials with Mako, they weren't fun. They were boring, and when she burped, he would look at her as if she had just thrown a puppycub. But there was someone who wasn't like that, who she could be herself with, who she could be lovers and friends with. She started to sprint, he was down the street at the Arena, two more blocks! Her heart was racing and her mind was spinning.

_He's going to hate me, he is going to tell me to go away and never look into his emerald eyes ever again, I can't let him do that, I can't…I-I…._

She turned the corner and there it was, glistening in the sunset light, golden and spectacular, better now after the refurbishing than it had ever been. A magnificent monument to the strength of the bender. She bolted inside.

He must have been practicing hard, because he was glistening with sweat when she walked into the gym. He looked up at her and smiled, her heart melted, but she was confused.

_How can he smile when I just broke his brother's heart, how can he look at me like that when his brother is in pieces._ She stepped forward and took a seat next to him on the weight lifting bench.

"Hey, Bo." She said as she stared at her hands, her breathing was erratic from the sprinting, and her heart was going nuts, because she knew who would be her best friend and her boyfriend in just the right way, and he was sitting next to her.

"Hey Korra!" Bolin smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close as he took a drink of water from his waterskin in his other hand, "To what do I owe the pleasure of you, the mighty avatar, visiting me here in my lowly gym." He laughed. Korra looked at him, his eyes sparkling with laughter and joy, she sat up straight and told her heart to calm down. He's right, I'm the avatar and I can do this… I don't feel so mighty right now though.

"I came to tell you something Bolin." She panted out.

"Well why are you all out of breath and sweating if you only came to tell me something?" _I ran here because I couldn't live another moment without you,_ Korra thought, but pushed it to the back of her mind.

"I broke up with Mako." She stated matter-of-factly. Bolin jerked his head to look at her, his eyes wide.

"Uh… what?! Weren't you supposed to go to see the glaciers of the Northern Water tribe next month?" He was confused, but not entirely surprised. Everytime he saw Korra and Mako together, Mako was happy… well as happy as Mako could show, and Korra seemed more or less bored. As if she wanted to pull her hair out and eat it. Korra closed her eyes and took a deep breath and opened her mouth to speak but Bo put his hand on her hand and squeezed.

"Look it doesn't matter where you were supposed to go, or why you broke up, I'm sorry it happened." And he looked her in the eyes and smiled sincerely, "Hey! Look on the bright side! You get to go find someone new!" He grinned heartily and made a big gesture spreading his arms wide to emphasize the possibilities. Poor Mako, he was just telling me two weeks ago how he wanted to marry Korra, how they were gonna have kids and be together. Bolin lowered his arms and turned to look at the corner of the gym opposite of Korra. Korra was one of his best friends, but Mako was his brother, and his pain was more important than hers. Mako raised him, sung him to bed when he was scared of the dark, helped him learn to earthbend the best he could. Mako needed him.

"Hey Korra, I'm sorry to chat and run but I'm gonna go check on Mako, see if he needs anything." Bolin turned to leave grabbing his gym bag on the way.

"Wait!" Korra exclaimed, jumping off the bench, "Wait, I have to tell you something!" She walked up to him, and stood squarely in front of him, taking a deep breath. "Mako and me, we didn't know each other, we couldn't be friends and date, he expected something from me, to be lady-like and proper, I expected something different from myself. But Bo," He furrowed his eyebrows, confused, What is she getting at?

"Bo, I can be myself with you, I can be your friend and…" she paused looking into his eyes. She grabbed his hand, knowing exactly what to do, she didn't fear anything, she was the avatar, "I can be your girlfriend too. I love you."

Bolin coughed, ripping his hand from hers and pounding on his chest, he couldn't breath. What was happening?

"Uh Korra but uh…. what?" He stared her straight in the eyes, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I love you Bolin, I really do." Korra smiled and laughed loudly. She was so relieved, it was out and she was so happy, because she knew that he would say he loved her too, he would and they would deal with Mako, because together they would…

"But I can't love you back right now Korra." Korra's eyes shot open and she looked at him, the smile dropping instantly from her face.

"I'm sorry, what?" Now she was confused, this wasn't supposed to happen.

"I can't love you, or be with you. What… what is your deal?" He looked at her with shock and disbelief, "You just broke my brother's heart! He's the man who raised me, the man who has stood by me through everything, and you just broke. his. heart."

Bolin went to the lockers and started to grab his stuff out hurriedly, almost angrily, "And not to mention before you were even dating him," Bolin turned back around to her. She had followed him to the lockers and was standing next to him, he got right in her face, "Before you were even dating him, you broke my heart. Whose to say you won't do it again? And you know who picked me up after that Korra?" Bolin asked as he grabbed more things from his locker, "Mako did, Mako fixed me up when you broke me. So no, I can't love you right now, and I certainly can't be with you."

He closed his locker and turned on his heal, stealing one last look at her, and then left, rushing to the refurbished attic where he now lived by himself.

"Wait!" Korra ran after him, grabbing him by the arm and trying to slow him down. "Bolin, will you just wait a second!" Bolin stopped walking and faced her, his hands at his sides.

"What's up Korra?" He asked, his face was a mix of emotions, but he tried to smile and act as if nothing was wrong, because that's all he really knew how to do, was act as if nothing was wrong.

"Listen, just you said right now, you can't be with me right now. Does that mean maybe…someday? Maybe ever?" She grabbed his hand and held it, the rough surface perfectly fitting into her strong hands.

"I… I don't know. Korra, Mako, he's my brother, my protector, my best friend. He's my guy, you know? He's in my corner no matter what, so is now the right time to leave him without backup?" Korra looked into Bolin's eyes and could tell, right then and there, that he was putting his duty to his brother over what he really wanted.

"I get that Bo," She sighed and stared at the hand she was holding. He had hair on his knuckles, something she had never had the chance to notice before, "But I think he's okay. He said that he thought we'd be better off as friends too." Bolin went to take his hand away but stopped, had his brother really seen it? The bored looks, the yawns, the anger that welled up in her when Mako told her she'd look better with make-up? Had Mako noticed that?

"Did he really say that?" Bolin's other hand moved of it's own accord to Korra's right front ponytail, and he gently touched it.

"Yeah, and I think we both figure out that we are just… just too different to be together, we wanted each other to change, but it wasn't right. No one should change for the person they love." Korra reached up her other hand to hold onto his as Bolin's hand moved from her ponytail to her face. He looked into her eyes and dropped his hand, looking at the floor.

"Korra, you still broke my heart. You ripped it up. I never told you but, those flowers I got you, they were my mother's favorite. I thought, if I gave them to you she might have looked down on us and been happy. But I never got the chance." He quickly shook his head and raised his eyes, "But you know, the past is the past." He smiled and forced a laugh. "And I'm not gonna put myself in that situation again!" He clapped her on the shoulder, "But this was a good talk." He started walking away, his hand trailing behind him, as if it wanted to stay on Korra's shoulder just a second longer.

"BO-LIN!" Korra stomped her foot on the ground. Bolin turned sharply. "You listen and you listen good!" She walked determined up to him and pointed her finger into his chest, "I love you, I love you because you are funny, and handsome, and smart, and athletic and all around wonderful!" She jabbed her finger into his chest, "I love you, because you are you and until you tell me that you don't love me I'm gonna keep loving you," She jabbed him again, "Because you're my best friend, and you like me just the way I am."

With that said, she reached up and kissed him. Bolin was surprised by the sudden force of it all, the speed, and he thought about pulling away. But he didn't. Instead he leaned in. And they kissed. And after a minute Korra pulled away.

"Now you listen to me," She said as she opened her eyes, her face flushed from the kiss, "I'm sorry," she said more softly as she held Bolin's cheek in her hand. He turned his face and kissed her hand.

"I guess it's okay," He smiled jokingly, "If Mako's okay, and you promise that next time I get you flowers, you won't be kissing some other guy when I go to give them to you." He laughed solemnly.

"Never again." Korra smiled sweetly and put her hand on his chest, "I promise to protect this heart with all the avatary powers I posses." She smiled wide and massaged his sternum where she had been poking him earlier. "Sorry if I hurt you."

Bolin smiled wide and laughed, "Eh, I'm over it." And with that he scooped her up into his arms and swung her around, "Now lets go get some noodles, I'm starving!" Korra laughed and they walked off down the hall.

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**AN: feedback please! On grammar, character/plot development and consistency! Do remember it's a one shot so I can't do everything all at once! **

**Sincerely, **

**Bluerose2823**


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